Taxes

A Series on Living in the Wilderness
Zacchaeus the tax collector
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Lk 19:1-10 

[In this series we’ll be looking at people who lived in the wilderness of life. In fact, there are times when we all feel like we are living in the wilderness. During those times, it’s important to remember that the Lord is faithful, that He loves you and is always with you.]

 

Complaining is as American as apple pie. Typical topics include the weather, the cost of gas or groceries, other drivers and how your favorite sports team is doing. However, the topic of taxes can result in bitter complaining.

 

As high as taxes are today, it doesn’t come anywhere near first century taxes for the Jews in Judea and Galilee. According to the ESV Archeological Study Bible, the Roman tax could reach between 50-80 percent of an individual’s personal income!

 

Compounding this was who benefited from the taxes. They were mostly used to fund Rome’s World Empire or lining a politician’s pockets or, the most hated… tax collectors. These were fellow Jews who were considered both traitors and thieves.

 

It was standard operating procedure for a tax collector to pocket anything extra that he charged with no limits. They even extorted taxpayers by threatening to file a false report if the person didn’t pay what they demanded. They were also known to take bribes or grant special favors. Basically, they were unethical!

 

Jews considered tax collectors the worst kind of sinner. They were outcasts, not welcome at the synagogue. They consorted with the enemy – Rome. They lived materialistic and self-absorbed lives. They lived in a wilderness.

 

Such was the case for Zacchaeus. However, the passage tells us that Zacchaeus “wanted to see who Jesus was”. This would seem to indicate that either he had seen and heard Jesus before or heard stories about him.

 

Possibly, he heard Jesus’ parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector praying at the temple. In the parable, the Pharisee thanked God that he wasn’t a sinner like the tax collector. While the tax collector begged God for mercy as a sinner.

 

Following the parable, Jesus said something extraordinary: the tax collector would go home justified before God, but not the Pharisee.

 

Whatever Zacchaeus may have witnessed or heard about Jesus, on that day by the sycamore tree, he promised Jesus that he would give half of his possessions to the poor and would pay back anybody that he had cheated four times the amount.

 

When Jesus heard Zacchaeus, he said this.

 

⁹ “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”   NLT

 

In verse 10, Jesus was making a direct reference to Ezekiel 34 where the Sovereign Lord, speaking through Ezekiel, condemned the religious leaders of the day for not shepherding the people of Israel. And then promised them this.

 

¹² I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day.         NLT

 

Like Zacchaeus, this promise is true today for you and me. Jesus will seek us out and rescue us wherever we’re scattered. Even when we’re living in a wilderness.

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com